ABSTRACT
The 2019 EP election in Spain took place less than one month after a national election, with the make-up of the next national government still to be decided. As such, the election risked becoming a test of the electoral strength of national parties in the context of ongoing coalition negotiations. This chapter draws upon new data from the RECONNECT 2019 EP election panel survey to assess the extent to which this was the case, or if the election more closely resembled a genuinely European, first-order contest. The evidence presented suggests a highly second-order election, especially in terms of voting, where there is a clear pattern of voters migrating from smaller parties in the national election to larger parties within the same bloc in the EP election. Meanwhile, evidence in favour of first-order engagement is limited, though the campaign does appear to have resulted in some politicization of European integration and an increase in the importance of the environment and climate change amongst voters. Though citizen support for European integration in Spain remains high, on balance, it appears that the highly charged national context resulted in a 2019 EP election that largely functioned as a follow-up national contest.
